One Night
by oh-heydare
Summary: How can one night change everything? How can everything from six years change in a single night?  Mostly fluff.


AN: It's just fluff, fluff and more fluff :) Just because I'm feeling really high and happy at 1.50am. I'm sorry if it doesn't make sense, I'm not very coherent at unearthly in the morning. I have no idea why I'm still up! Mmhm yeah okay I'm sorry, my AN's getting incoherent too. Mm, I think my ending's pretty crappy because I couldn't really think of a proper ending. I'm sorry ): Oh well, R&R please! :)

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><p>Lily read the letter again, her fists clenched, making the letter crumple up at the edges. She bit back the tears and supressed the sobs that threatened to wrack through her body any moment. She'd gotten her monthly letter from home, but there was something new and unexpected this time. Petunia had actually replied to the greeting she'd sent in the last letter. Lily had been writing to her family every month, including a short note for Petunia, sending her love and well wishes, but all that came in response was empty silence. Up till now, of course.<p>

She skimmed through it again, the words piercing her like arrows straight to her heart.

_You freak. _Lily pressed her lips together, restraining herself from making any whimpering noises.

_You are no sister of mine. _She began finding it harder and harder to breathe steadily.

_Never associate yourself with me again. _She clenched her fists even tighter, her fingernails digging into her palms through the paper.

_I've been working on forgetting about your existence. _The first traitor tear came rolling down her cheek, leaving hot, wet streak as it travelled downwards.

Once the first tear was out, there was no stopping the rest. The tears came relentlessly now, she could feel the sobs forcing themselves out of her chest. She tried to keep as silent as possible, not wanting to wake anyone up at this unearthly hour of the night.

She was curled up in a ball in her favourite chair in the common room. It was three freaking a.m., and she'd snuck down here to get some alone time and allow herself to break down over her sister's hurtful words. Where was the friendship they'd shared when they were younger? How could everything change just because of what she was? Shouldn't their sisterly be able to overcome anything, including this? Apparently not. Apparently, the Petunia she'd known and loved when she was younger was gone and replaced by this horrible heartless one instead. But Lily still couldn't bring herself to hate Petunia. She could not let go of the memories they had when they were younger. She brought herself to believe that that old Petunia was still in there, somewhere deep deep inside her. And so she couldn't possibly hate her sister just like that.

But the letter was just too much. She remembered the surprise she felt when she found that there were two letters for her, one with her name written in Petunia's elegant script. Perhaps her sister finally decided that she missed her too much to keep up with the silent treatment, she thought. But she had thought wrong. All Petunia wanted to do was insult her and distance herself from Lily even more.

Lily put her head on her knees, the tears still flowing down, and inhaled deeply, trying to calm her breathing.

The portrait of the Fat Lady swung open abruptly. Lily checked her watch again, it was indeed three a.m. Who goes out at three a.m.? She jumped up and brushed the tears away from her cheeks quickly, hoping that whoever it was wouldn't catch that she had been down in the common room, sobbing away on her own. It was pathetic, she was Lily Evans after all, and Lily Evans is not weak.

"Who's there?" she asked in a shaky voice, much to her utter resentment. Her voice sounded choked and vulnerable, not what she had been hoping for at all.

Three figures stepped in through the portrait as she groaned internally. Just her luck to have Potter walk in and catch her on a night like this.

"Why hello Lily. Were you waiting up for me?" he asked, his usual confident smirk on his face. Peter and Sirius stood on either side of him, backing him up.

"What are you doing out so late? It's against the school rules," she began, as James's smirk grew even wider.

"I could ask you the same thing," he replied.

Instead of going on with reprimanding them for being out of the tower so late, she rolled her eyes and turned around. She could feel the tears springing to her eyes again as she remembered why she was here in the first place.

James seemed to sense that something was amiss, and waved the other two off to the dorms first. Sirius raised an eyebrow, but complied silently.

He walked forward quietly and put his hand on her shoulder, making her jump a little.

"Is everything alright?" he asked and immediately regretted it. The answer was pretty obvious.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Potter. I don't need your help," she tried to say coldly, but her voice wasn't cooperating. She brushed his hand off her shoulder and walked back to her seat and sat back down, her back to him the entire time.

"Oh come on Lils, I know for a fact that you're not okay," he said, walking towards her again.

"Well even if I'm not okay, what does it matter to you?" she snapped.

He walked round her now, and kneeled down so he could look her in the eye.

"You know it means the world to me," he said.

She looked into his piercing hazel eyes, and found no trace of laughter or joke there. He was completely serious, he wasn't just playing around with her.

And before she could help herself, she'd thrown herself at him, and cried her eyes out on his shoulder, blubbering on and on about what Petunia had done and how much it hurt her. And all the while, James just sat there, rubbing her back and whispering that it'd be alright.

After she was somewhat calmer and thinking more rationally did she realize what she was doing. She was _hugging _Potter. She was confessing her _inner worries_ to him. She was telling him about _Petunia_, something she had only told Snape about (not that the git was even worth talking to anymore). But it felt nice. Somehow, amidst all the crying and ranting, she'd made herself comfortable in Potter's arms. He was still rubbing her back, still whispering words of assurance into her ear.

And she had the strangest revelation. Potter had a _heart_. The arrogant little toerag actually had a heart. All these years he'd been asking her out, she'd thought he'd been playing around with her, just trying to show everyone that he could get any girl he wants. But tonight, she'd realized that he actually did _care _about her. And the strangest part of it all was that somehow, within the last ten minutes, she'd actually taken a _liking _to him. After six years of utmost loathing, she found that she now liked Potter.

She pulled away from him slightly and looked at him with brand new eyes. Suddenly, she was looking past the arrogant prat that she'd seen for the last six years, and saw him for who he was- a caring, funny (although sometimes his antics were a little overboard) guy who wouldn't mind sacrificing anything for his friends. She'd seen him miss dinner countless times just to go visit Lupin in the hospital wing whenever he fell sick. She'd seen him miss Hogsmeade trips just so he could stay behind and help Peter with Transfiguration. And she'd also experienced him missing out on much needed sleep, just so he could listen to her blab on incoherently about what her stupid sister had done to her.

"You alright now?" he asked, a hint of worry in his voice.

She nodded and got up so he could stand up too. They looked at each other in awkward silence for a few moments.

"Er... I think I should be getting to bed now," he said, trying to break the awkwardness. Lily barely murmured a 'yeah' as he turned around to head for the staircase up to the boys' dormitory.

"James?" she said, just as he began walking away.

"Yeah?" he asked, turning back around.

She took two quick steps forward and wrapped her arms around him once more, whispering a 'thank you' in his ear, before kissing him on the cheek briefly and running up to her dormitory.

James stood rooted to the spot as he watched her retreat into her dorm hastily. He brought two fingers to the spot where her lips had met and brushed it, enjoying the tingling sensation that lingered from the kiss. He grinned slowly and headed for his dormitory, knowing that things between the two of them had definitely changed.


End file.
